“We Want Our Eyes to Be Open”
Matthew 20.29-34
February 16, 2014
Chester FBC Chester, IL * Dr. Mike Fogerson, Speaker
Introduction:
A This week, the American voice of the Olympics, Bob Costas, was absent from the airwaves due to a double eye infection.
1 He said, “"Bear with me for a moment as I spare my friends in the press office countless inquiries. ... I woke up this morning with my left eye swollen shut and just about as red as the old Soviet flag. According to the NBC doctors here, it's some kind of minor infection, which should resolve itself by the weekend. If only all my issues would resolve themselves that quickly. But that's another story."
a When your eyes are hurting it seems like your whole body hurts.
b You don’t know how much you need, use a body part until you’re unable to use it.
2 In our text this morning, Matthew 20.29-34, we find two men who are blind.
a In the ancient world, blindness was a very common malady.
aa Sometimes blindness was caused by an accident or a battle wound.
bb Most often, if someone was blind from infancy by getting gonorrheal infection of the eyes, contracted from the mother during birth and also trachoma, a form of conjunctivitis.
cc Today, many doctors will routinely place antiseptic drops in the eyes of newborns to stymie blindness in babies.
b Matthew 20:29-34 (NASB)29 As they were leaving Jericho, a large crowd followed Him. 30 And two blind men sitting by the road, hearing that Jesus was passing by, cried out, "Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!" 1 The crowd sternly told them to be quiet, but they cried out all the more, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!" 32 And Jesus stopped and called them, and said, "What do you want Me to do for you?" 33 They *said to Him, "Lord, we want our eyes to be opened." 34 Moved with compassion, Jesus touched their eyes; and immediately they regained their sight and followed Him.
B (ETS) The blind men knew that only the Messiah could meet their greatest need.
1 (ESS) Jesus Messiah is the only one who can make us a completely whole person.
a (Objective) I hope you’ll make Jesus the first one you run to to meet your most desperate, deepest need.
b (Probing Question) Where do you run first for help when all hell breaks lose in your life?
2 Let’s look at two ways we can be certain that Jesus is the one we run to when things in our life come at us fast & furiously.
a We’ll look first . . .
aa at being at the right place.
bb placing your problems in the hands of the right person.
b Pray
I The first way we can be certain that Jesus is the first one we run to, to meet our most desperate, deepest need is . . .being at the right place.
A Jericho is the location we find our Savior and the two blind men.
1 Jericho was the first city taken by Joshua after leaving the 40 year wilderness wandering.
a The city had been cursed by Joshua.
Joshua 6:20-21, 26 (NASB) 20 So the people shouted, and priests blew the trumpets; and when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, the people shouted with a great shout and the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight ahead, and they took the city. 21 They utterly destroyed everything in the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox and sheep and donkey, with the edge of the sword.26 Then Joshua made them take an oath at that time, saying, "Cursed before the LORD is the man who rises up and builds this city Jericho; with the loss of his firstborn he shall lay its foundation, and with the loss of his youngest son he shall set up its gates."
aa That curse was fulfilled under the reign of King Ahab
1 Kings 16:34 (NASB) 34 In his days Hiel the Bethelite built Jericho; he laid its foundations with the loss of Abiram his firstborn, and set up its gates with the loss of his youngest son Segub, according to the word of the LORD, which He spoke by Joshua the son of Nun.
bb It was the hometown of Rahab the harlot, Jesus’ Great, Great (way on back) grandma.
bb Later, Jericho would have a seminary for the prophets
2 Kings 2:5 (NASB) 5 The sons of the prophets who were at Jericho approached Elisha and said to him, "Do you know that the LORD will take away your master from over you today?" And he answered, "Yes, I know; be still."
b Later, Jericho would be the place the prophet Elisha performed ONE miracle; make bitter water into sweet, potable water
2 Kings 2:21 (NASB) 21 He went out to the spring of water and threw salt in it and said, "Thus says the LORD, 'I have purified these waters; there shall not be from there death or unfruitfulness any longer.'"
aa It was the place in the N.T. that Herod the Great died of a wretched/foul disease.
bb Today, Jericho is about 15-miles from Jerusalem that is predominately inhabited by a Muslim community.
2 Jericho had a special balsam bush from which a medicine for the eyes was produced.
a There was probably a very large population of blind folks in Jericho for this reason.
aa They were at Jericho for some release, relief, & restoration of their need, blindness.
bb If you have Cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer’s, diabeties, you go to a place that is known for treating that disease.
b In our text, this is the first & only account of Jesus going to Jericho.
aa In Luke 18/19; Mark 10, we see some of the rest of the story of what Jesus did in Jericho this trip (Bartimaeus & Zacchaeus.)
bb Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem, a week out from the crucifixion . . . Jesus is on His own schedule.
c These men had heard of Jesus’ healing ministry & now they hear that the One who had given hearing to the deaf, life to the dead, & sight to the blind was coming by.
aa If these men were ever going to have their sight restored they had to do it right now while Jesus was near - - - maybe they’d never have this opportunity again.
bb They are at the right place, at the right time to encounter the right man who can make them right.
cc They blind men start “crying out” (v.30) like they are insane (lit., cries of woman during labor, people crying out “Crucify Him,” & Jesus crying out at the crucifixion.)
d This is the last best chance of being healed!
B If we are going to find peace/wholeness (shalom) we must be in the “right place.”
1 Often, we go everywhere but the right place when things in our lives are out of place.
a We go to the wrong people, places . . . hoping to find answers to our problems.
b We’ll never find the help, answers we need if we look in the wrong place.
2 Let me give you three right places we need to run to when we find ourselves in need.
a We need the right people.
aa I just spent 3 weeks on picking the right friends (Friendly Fire Series.)
bb We need to be surrounded by people who share our faith in the One True God.
cc Hebrews 10:23-25 (NASB) Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; 24 and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, 25 not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.
dd Go to CHURCH.
b We need the right pages.
aa Dr. Phil, Dr. Oz cannot give you all the answers to life’s problems like the Word of Life can.
bb Make it a point, priority in your daily life to be in His Word.
c We need to be in the right position.
aa The right position is on our knees in prayer.
bb It’s in prayer that we talk to God, but more importantly, God talks to us.
cc 1 Thessalonians 5:17 (NASB) “pray without ceasing;”
C IL.
II The second way we can be certain that Jesus is the first one we run to to meet our most desperate, deepest need is . . .place our problems in the hands of the right person.
A Bartimaeus & his buddy called out to Jesus knowing that He was their only hope.
1 The doctors, practitioners, pharmaceuticals had been of precious little help.
a “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David.”
aa They didn’t ask for gold, silver, lodging or a loaf of bread.
bb They did recognize Jesus authority and recognized their own need.
bb What they needed more than anything was God’s mercy on their brokeness.
b As they cried out, the people who were following Jesus told the blind men to be quiet (v.31.)
aa I wonder how many of us who are already following Jesus speak/behave in such a way that we hinder others from following Him, too?
bb The blind men refused to be bludgeoned into silent by the indifferent crowd.
2 Jesus stopped what He was doing and asked the bold blind men, “What do you want Me to do for you?”
a Jesus knew they were blind as bats, what He wanted was for these two to voice their need.
b They replied, “open our eyes.”
aa Being physically blind was not uncommon at the time, but the spiritual sight these two was uncommon for any time.
bb They knew Jesus was the ONE who could make them well, heal their disease.
c Jesus, their Creator, touched their eyes and they regained their sight.
aa “. . . immediately they regained their sight and followed Him.” (V.34)
bb Jesus responded to their need & FAITH out of compassion, HE LOVED THESE TWO GUYS.
cc Upon their healing, receiving God’s mercy they never again sat with the blind beggers . . . they followed Jesus to Jerusalem. (By following Jesus to Jerusalem, they were actually following Him to the cross.)
B For God to move on our prayers/petitions we do not have to have the right formula in our prayers (He’s not listening to see if we know the right words, phrases, or if we’ve mastered a prayer language)
1 God knows your problem before you ask, yet He still wants us to “ask, seek, knock.”
a Whether He gives us strength to endure our pain or heal us from it . . . He does so in response to persistent prayer.
aa When we go to Him with our worries/problems we’re going to the right person in faith that He will do something about it.
bb IL. When I pull my boat up to the dock I get as close as I can and then reach for it. The dock doesn’t move any closer to me. The shore is not coming to me, I pull myself to it.
cc When we cry out to Jesus in faith, He’s not coming closer to us . . . we’re getting closer to Him! We draw closer to His mercy!
b When you get serious (or run out of options) be careful not listen to the crowd.
aa There will always be people, even “church people,” who will try to get you to give up, be quiet, behave yourself.
bb Those people can’t give you what you need (if anything they will block your blessing at best and prevent your healing from coming at worst.)
2 The best evidence of spiritual sight is that we become inseparable from Jesus . . . even to the cross.
a The Jesus who opened your eyes to realize your need to get saved is the one who keeps your eyes open to the Kingdom for the rest of your life.
b Regardless of things are in my life, my body . . . I will go through it not as a blind man, but one who has received sight and will never stop following after the one who gave me my sight.
C IL. Fanny Crosby, born blind, “I rejoice knowing that the first thing my eyes will see will be the beautiful face of my Jesus.”
The hymn writer Fanny Crosby gave us more than 6,000 gospel songs. Although blinded by an illness at the age of six weeks, she never became bitter. One time a preacher sympathetically remarked, "I think it is great pity that the Master did not give you sight when He showered so many other gifts upon you." She replied quickly, "Do you know that if at birth I had been able to make one petition, it would have been that I should be born blind?" "Why?" asked the surprised clergyman. "Because when I get to heaven, the first face that shall ever gladden my sight will be that of my Savior!"
One of Miss Crosby's hymns was so personal that for years she kept it to herself. Kenneth Osbeck, author of several books on hymnology, says its revelation to the public came about this way: "One day at a Bible conference in Northfield, Massachusetts, Miss Crosby was asked by D. L. Moody to give a personal testimony. At first she hesitated, then quietly rose and said, 'There is one hymn I have written which has never been published. I call it my soul's poem. Sometimes when I am troubled, I repeat it to myself, for it brings comfort to my heart.' She then recited while many wept,
'Someday the silver cord will break,
and I no more as now shall sing;
but oh, the joy when I shall wake
within the palace of the King!
And I shall see Him face to face,
and tell the story -- saved by grace!'"
At the age of 95, Fanny Crosby passed into glory and saw the face of Jesus.
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Respectfully,
Mike Fogerson
